Charlton apology and refund information

Read a statement from the club regarding Saturday's postponed game at The Valley
Statement on Valley postponement

Charlton Athletic would like to apologise to all supporters who made the journey to The Valley on Saturday afternoon to find the game had been postponed after a 1pm pitch inspection.

The club was confident that the suitable precautions had been taken at the start of the week and that it would go ahead.

Following the postponement of the FA Cup third round game against Oxford United a MacLeod cover was installed all week to protect the playing surface from rain and allow hot air to circulate above it.

Throughout the week the club’s ground staff were confident that match against Barnsley would be played, as planned, as the pitch improved on a day-by-day basis.

The ground staff did not deem it necessary to call in a match official to conduct a preliminary pitch inspection on the Friday prior to the game against the Tykes, as they were confident the surface was in a better condition than at a comparative stage before the recent matches against Brighton & Hove Albion and Sheffield Wednesday.

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that tickets purchased for the match against Barnsley will remain valid for the rearranged date, which will be publicised on www.cafc.co.uk once available.

Charlton supporters looking for refunds should bring their tickets to the Valley commercial centre, or send them in via post, and must be received at least 24 hours before the date of the rearrangement.

Barnsley supporters looking for refunds should deal directly with the Tykes’ ticket office.

Read more at http://www.cafc.co.uk/news/article/20140111-club-statement-1288017.aspx#9gw2E3vtVJPysCqQ.99

 

They should make them play the game at Oakwell

 

and call it off at 1pm (somehow letting the Barnsley fans know first of course).

 

What punish the Charlton fans like, was it their fault.

 

If you go on the Charlton fans forums you'll see that they are seriously embarrassed by their club's ineptitude and sympathetic with the Barnsley fans and their own long distance fans.

 

Of course not, it was a joke. As EGT says below, all the Charlton fans to a man are sypathetic towards us.

 

The ground staff are seriously inept. Their apology is a joke, the fans who travelled (Barnsley and Charlton) deserve so much better as do all fans who are screwed over by football clubs and the FA.

 

The refund they are talking about is a refund for the price of the ticket not travel ...

 

Complete ********....They must have known yesterday evening that the pitch was unplayable...The League has to investigate this....Hundreds of Reds are out of pocket....Disgraceful!!

 

I did realise at the time, but thought what the **** not that funny and was showing my sympathy for Charlton fans for his suggestion.

Football fans of both sides got shafted today.

 

Well it can't be any worse than our match at Oakwell last season.

 

Putting a plastic sheet over the pitch and hoping for the best...Charlton Athletic, putting the "Professional" in professional football club.

 

They won't want to reimburse travel costs but they'll be under so much pressure to do so that they will - probably only those that travelled on the official coaches though.

 

Re: Charlton apology and refund information - could it be a Toshack?

Remembering April 1978 when Swansea postponed and postponed the date for their already-postponed match at Oakwell. Kept on saying that they couldn't play on dates we gave them. Then it turned out that they knew John Toshack would sign for them on a certain date and pretty certainly kept the game back until he had done so, so he could play against us. We were promotion rivals and, with Toshack in the side, they won 0-2.

Charlton have been just taken over and are expecting new investment with the view of keeping them in the Championship and we are their relegation rivals.

Does anyone think that they might have deferred the game until Powell has been able to strengthen??

It would not be the first time!

 

You're probably right but BFC should seek legal advice over this. The circumstances of this game being call off are disgraceful and completely avoidable. CAFC should be utterly ashamed of themselves.

 

Once went down to Newport in the 70s mid week on the supporters coach, it had been raining cats and dogs for about 4 days. The Club had been assured pitch was playable. It rained all the way down. 1 hour from Newports ground I looked out of the window across the dual carriage way and saw the team bus going the other way. Not one person on the coach believed me when I told them. When we got to the ground the gates were open and the fire brigade were pumping water of the pitch it was that deep. Infact it looked more like a lake than owt else. Day of work missed following day overlaid expensive journey.

 

Ha! I went to that Newport game too. Yes the gates were open and there was a club bar overlooking the pitch and I remember we got well drunk in there watching the rain fall.
40 years later and clubs are still postponing games a couple of hours before the kick off unnecessarily . Judging by their statement Charlton appear to accept they cocked up.Would be a nice touch and a publicity coup were they to make , say, a fifty quid payment to Barnsley fans who held tickets for the game. In fact would be even better if our club did this and then sent Charlton the bill. Far better than writing to the FA etc which we all know will lead to nowt and would guarantee maximum publicity and might just embarrass Charlton into paying out.